Advertising consists of those activities by which usual and oral messages are addressed to selected public for the purpose of informing and influencing them to buy the products or services or to act or to be inclined favourably towards ideas, persons, trademarks or institutions featured.

As contrasted with publicity and other forms of propaganda, advertising messages are identified with the advertiser either by the signature or oral statement. Further advertising is a commercial transaction involving pay to publishers, broadcasters on others whose media is employed.

Advertising is important and can help make firms and brand leaders in the market provided they have just the products and services that the market requires. The field of advertising management is made up of a system of interacting organizations and institutions, all of which play a vital role in the advertising process.

Learn about:- 1. History of Advertising 2. Meaning of Advertising 3. Definitions 4. Characteristics 5. Nature 6. Objectives 7. Functions 8. Different Types of Media 9. Benefits 10. Limitations.

What is Advertising: History, Meaning, Definitions, Characteristics, Nature, Objectives, Functions, Types, Benefits and Limitations


Contents:

  1. History of Advertising
  2. Meaning of Advertising
  3. Definitions of Advertising
  4. Characteristics of Advertising
  5. Nature of Advertising
  6. Objectives of Advertising
  7. Functions of Advertising
  8. Different Types of Media in Advertising
  9. Benefits of Advertising
  10. Limitations of Advertising

What is Advertising – History

Advertising for religion was the earliest form of advertising in India and dates back to several centuries. It was the Buddhists who realised the importance of visual communication in spreading religion. In order to communicate the teachings of Buddha to the population at large, Emperor Ashok set up rock and pillar edicts all over the country. On some of these, engraved in stone were the commandments of religion. These rock and pillar edicts were the forerunners of posters of today.

As India was largely a rural economy till the coming of the British, advertising did not have much scope for growth before that period. British rule also ushered in introduction of the printing press, which, by increasing literacy, fostered the growth of advertising in India.

Advertisements for a few imported luxury goods marked the beginning of advertising as it exists today, the Bengal Gazette, the first Indian newspaper, was started in Calcutta in 1780. By 1786, there were four weekly newspapers and monthly magazines published in Calcutta. The Bengal Gazette carried government advertisements free of charge.

In 1790, The Courier was published in Bombay and unlike the modern newspapers, it carried advertisements in Marathi, Gujarati, Konkani, Urdu and Kannada. Though the first newspaper in an Indian language was started in 1833, it took the advertisers quite some time to begin the use of language press for advertising.

Commercial advertising was still in its infancy at the beginning of the twentieth century. Neither the language nor the English press got sufficient revenue from advertising. There were no advertising agencies capable of giving competent advice on advertising. However, many publications, including The Statesman and The Times of India had separate advertising departments to assist advertisers.

The first advertising agency was started in 1907 in Bombay. The early agencies, like their American counterparts, mainly secured advertisements and got them published in the newspapers. During the first World War, a few other Indian advertising agencies were started. However, the first full-fledged Indian advertising agency was launched in 1931 and soon, many others sprung up, leading to stiff competition. Some agency personnel were sent abroad to train with foreign agencies in the various aspects of advertising.

In 1939, the Indian and Eastern Newspaper Society (I.E.N.S.) was founded to promote and protect the interests of the newspapers and to deal collectively with the government, the advertising agencies and the advertisers.

The period 1930-1939 just before the second world war, could be termed the period of “consolidation” in the history of Indian advertising. The growth during this period was largely due to the Swedeshi movement and the consequent decline in the use of imported goods. The number of advertising agencies grew steadily. The existing agencies expanded their services to make them more comprehensive. The growth of local industries gave additional impetus to advertising.

War-time advertising in India was more of reminder advertising or apologies for short supplies. Shrinkage in imports led to a corresponding decline in foreign advertising. However, the war proved beneficial to the press in more ways than one. The excitement of war and war news boosted the circulations of the newspapers; and the government’s war-time publicity meant substantial advertising revenue to the newspapers.

By the end of the war, scarcity of goods had given an impetus to many new industries. Shortly after Independence in 1947, imports of consumer goods was totally banned, thus protecting the local industries. However, competition between manufacturers began growing, throwing a challenge to the advertising business to come out with newer techniques. Indian advertising came of age during this period. With rapid industrialisation, the techniques of research were utilised to make advertising more scientific and predictable. Reliance on western advertising began to diminish.

Since the new clientele has a different socio-economic background, post-Independence advertisements shifted from prestigious and luxury products, mainly bought by status conscious people to consumer and consumer durable products bought mainly for time-and labour-saving purposes. Middle class families in India, usually have both husband and wife going to work and thus have no time to spare.

Therefore, for them, such products as refrigerators, kitchenware, frozen foods or ready mixes for eatables etc. are the items being advertised heavily. Ready-made garments, items for indoor amusement, convenience goods, new fashion products have created their own demand.

Important Organisations Connected with Indian Advertising:

i. The Advertising Agencies’ Association of India was formed in 1945, to raise the standard of advertising and to introduce a code of conduct.

ii. The Indian Society of Advertisers was formed in 1952 to promote the interest of the advertisers and to raise the standards of advertising. It represents about 70% of the national advertisers in the country.

iii. The Audit Bureau of Circulation, formed in 1948, helped to bring Indian newspapers in the line with those of the advanced industrial countries. Today, almost all important publications, whether daily, weekly or monthly, are members of the ABC. An ABC certificate can be relied on for verification of the circulations of the various newspapers and periodicals.

iv. The Indian Newspaper Society, promotes various advertising agencies and gives accreditation to them. These-agencies are then eligible for 15% commission and other credit terms.

v. The Advertising Club, Bombay, registered in 1962, presents annual awards for excellence in advertising on an all-India basis. It also conducts seminars, discussions, debates, audio-visual slide show and lectures on advertising and allied subjects. It represents the broadest cross-section of individuals connected with advertisement and communications.


What is Advertising – Meaning

Advertising consists of those activities by which usual and oral messages are addressed to selected public for the purpose of informing and influencing them to buy the products or services or to act or to be inclined favourably towards ideas, persons, trademarks or institutions featured. As contrasted with publicity and other forms of propaganda, advertising messages are identified with the advertiser either by the signature or oral statement. Further advertising is a commercial transaction involving pay to publishers, broadcasters on others whose media is employed.

“Advertising is paid, non-personal communicating various media by business organisations, non-profit organisations and individual who are in some way identified in advertising message.”

Clearly advertisement includes the following forms of messages. The out-door boards, our street cards, bus and train cards and in circular of all kinds whether distributed by mail, by person, through tradesmen or by inserts in packages. Dealer help materials and efforts, store signs, house organs where picture is used by advertising messages or by signature of the advertiser.

Labels, toys and other literature accompanying merchandise are also deemed advertising, because they may reasonably be said to fall within the definition of advertising given above. Writers sometime include these items.

The informative aspect of advertising has been stressed.

Though the basic purpose of advertising is to bring the advertised product as well as its features and uses to the notice of consumers, it has begun to be used for a number of other allied purposes now:

1. In the existence of intense competition has given rise to what may be described as competitive advertising. In other words, advertising is undertaken these days not only to inform people about of product, but is used also to maintain the demand for an existing product and to add to existing demand by weaning people away from rival products in the market. To take a concrete case, when the bottlers of Coca-Cola found a strong rival in Pepsi cola, they changed the tone and emphasis of their advertisements and began to emphasise that only ‘it is real’.

2. Large-scale advertising is often undertaken with the objective of creating or enhancing the goodwill of advertising company. Thus, in turn, it increases the market receptiveness of the company’s product and help the salesman to win customers easily.

3. Advertising is used as a means to demand creation. Many needs of the people are the creations of advertising. Actually advertising seeks to channelise the surplus incomes of the people towards those products which are not included among the basic necessities of life. In this process, it makes people conscious of the need not something without which they had been living so far. This consciousness is turned into desire, and an ardent desire, when the advertisement continues to rub in the need for a product.

4. It follows from the above that advertising may be used with a view to preparing ground from a new product that is proposed to be introduced in the market. Most of the cinema advertisements are designed to serve this purpose. By the time a film starts its run at a theatre, the people are already prepared to receive it. That explains the gate-crashing and the heavy rush at the box office right on the opening day of picture. The readers would recall how ground is prepared for the opening and how enthusiastically the people rush to see it in the first week of its run.


What is Advertising – Definitions: Provided by American Marketing Institutions, W.J.Stanton, Wheeler, Wood and Philip Kotler

In today’s marketing scenario, it can be easily said that, “No advertising, No business”. Advertising is multidimensional. It is a form of mass communication, a powerful marketing tool, a component of the economic system, a means of financing the mass media, a social institute, an art form, an instrument of business management, a field of employment and profession.

Advertising is important and can help make firms and brand leaders in the market provided they have just the products and services that the market requires. The field of advertising management is made up of a system of interacting organizations and institutions, all of which play a vital role in the advertising process.

Advertising is an integral part of our social and economic systems. Advertising has evolved into a vital communications system for both consumers and businesses. A major role of advertising in the marketing programs of most organizations is to deliver carefully prepared messages to target audiences.

Advertising is a form of communication whose purpose is to inform potential customers about products and services and how to obtain and use them. Many advertisements are also designed to generate increased consumption of those products and services through the creation and reinforcement of brand image and brand loyalty.

Advertising play a significant role in awareness creation and attitude formation. It can even generate a trail and purchase as long as all other elements of the marketing mix play a contributory role. Advertising educates a large number of consumers about what the product has to offer and whether it suits their needs or not.

The word “Advertising” has been derived from the Latin word, “adverto”, a combination of the two words – “Ad and Verto”. “Ad” means towards and “verto” means I turn, thus advertising literally means to turn one’s attention to a particular commodity or a specific thing or object.

The term “advertising” or “advertisement” has been defined by some eminent authors as under:

“Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor.” —American Marketing Association

“Advertising consists of all the activities involved in presenting to a group a non – personal, oral or visual openly sponsored message regarding a product service or idea, this message, called an advertisement is disseminated through one or more media and is paid for by the identified sponsor.” —W.J. Stanton

“Advertising is any form of paid non-personal presentation of ideas, goods and services for the purpose of inducing people to buy” —Wheeler

“Advertising is causing to know, to remember, to do.” —Wood

“Advertising is non-personal form of communication conducted through paid media under clear sponsorship” —Philip Kotler

“Advertising has been defined as the dissemination of information concerning an idea, service or a product, compel action in accordance with the interest of advertiser” —American Age, an American Magazine

To communicate, to persuade, to influence and to lead to some action is what advertising is all about.


What is Advertising – Characteristics: Identified Sponsor, Mass-Communication Process, Persuasive Act, Non-Personal Presentation, Informative in Action and a Few Others

The prominent characteristics of advertising are discussed below:

1. Identified Sponsor:

The identity of the advertiser, whether it is the manufacture or the marketer or the dealer is known through the name, brand or logo appearing in the advertisement copy or product package.

2. Mass-Communication Process:

Every piece of advertising assures satisfaction of human wants. Advertisers i.e., manufacturers and dealers use this mass media to communicate the message to the target audience. Communication costs and hence, it is speedy and as pervasive as it is purely commercial.

3. Persuasive Act:

Advertising in any form includes persuasion as it is, the major function of advertising copy and the artwork is to persuade the reader or the listener or the viewer. Persuasion is the power of advertising. It is its stock or strength. Advertising is, by very nature, persuasive. There is a kind of logical process of persuasion known as A-I-D-A formula. That is, an advertisement draws the attention, creates interest, and converts interest into Desire and Desire into Action. Hence, advertising is the greatest art of persuasion.

4. Non-Personal Presentation:

By presenting the message regarding a product, or a service or an idea it is non-personal. That is, the advertiser makes use of convenient and viable media and media vehicle to pass on his ‘ad’ message to the target audience or target market. That is why it is called as salesmanship in print. In other words, the manufacturer and consumers are not in direct or personal contact with one another.

5. Informative in Action:

Advertisement announces the arrival of a new product, talks about its special features and explains the best use of the product, thus, helping the hesitant and undecided prospect to make the decision to buy or not to buy.

Advertisements are pieces of information for the listeners, readers, viewers and onlookers.

6. Paid-For:

Advertisements are paid and in case, they are not, it is publicity, propaganda or a rumour where the person may or may not spend. Advertising as an act of persuasion is deliberate and planned one and the sender of the message has to foot the bill. Whatever maybe the media, each medium and media vehicle costs the advertiser. By its very nature, it is paid form of presentation of an idea, product or a service in an indirect way.

7. Competitive Act:

In a competitive business worked which is keen, acute and cut-throat. In each line of activity, there are many, but it is natural that they want to push their products and services to the maximum extent with profit to them and satisfaction to the consumers. Competition is of two types namely, quality and price. In both the cases, the change in quality standards and price are to be brought to the notice of the target audience.


What is Advertising – Nature: As an Art, As a Science and As a Profession

Advertising is a paid method of mass communication, which is aimed at promoting ideas, goods or services by an identifiable sponsor. Advertising is done by both commercial and non­commercial organisations. The budgets are higher for the commercial organisations with a view to assure the advertiser of a long business life and profitable sales.

It is the most economical method of communication of ideas, goods and services because it reaches a large number of people; bringing down the cost per message. Advertisement facilitates speedy trans­mission of message, allowing an advertiser to present his idea, goods and services in a persuasive method to millions of actual or potential buyers in a very shorter duration of time.

1. As an Art:

Development of advertising idea is an art because it is the creativity of individuals, working in a group which makes an advertisement noticeable and attractive. The creation of the copy including its message, theme and its layout is an art on which the success and failure of an advertisement campaign depend. Presenting an advertisement in an imaginative way, unique demonstration of product superiority or a memorable jingle is all about creativity which is an art.

2. As a Science:

The other side of the coin projects advertising as a science. Advertising management has been developed as a discipline which is being taught to the students in various universities and institutions, at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels. Various principles, objectives, techniques and strategies of advertising have been developed to guide professionals develop a successful and effective advertising campaign.

3. As a Profession:

Advertising field offers numerous career opportunities. Advertising agencies have various departments such as client servicing, copy writing, media buyers, researchers, etc., where specialists are required to handle various positions. Advertisement itself has emerged as an important field of career opportunities.


What is Advertising – 6 Important Objectives: Rise in Sales Volume, Communication Channel, Aid to Personal Selling, Creating Demand for a Product and a Few Others

Goals of Advertising in Marketing Promotion Mix:

This paid activity comes with a package of persuasion, increase in demand for a product and reach of company to its target market.

Marketing Management must set prior goals from the advertisement campaign because of large sum of money involved.

Following goals can be set before any team of advertising:

Objective # 1. Rise in Sales Volume:

Advertisement aims at increase in sales and results in profit maximization.

Advertising done with intention of sales is simple, attractive and persuasive in nature which creates instant demand for product. Customer usually changes his mind from ‘later’ to ‘Buy Now’.

Various other techniques may be applied in order to boost advertising like sales promotion in the form of discounts, schemes etc.

Objective # 2. Communication Channel:

Advertising enables communication of product with masses of people without any discrimination. This is the foremost goal of advertising that is to give information about the product, stating its features, utility etc to masses. This goal is the purpose of setting advertisement campaign.

Best advertisement is that which creates need for a product in the mind of person who was not even aware about the product before that advertisement.

Objective # 3. Aid to Personal Selling:

Advertising and personal selling goes hand in hand because two are supplementary in each other’s functions. Both are equally important for the success of marketing promotion campaign. Personal selling is done where advertisement is not necessary and effect of direct selling is more beneficial like in sale of consumer durable products.

Objective # 4. Creating Demand for a Product:

Advertising reaches where direct product cannot because of its accessibility.

In growing social and technological upgradation, whole world is a target market and advertising reaches whole world without any hurdle and creates demand for the product with much ease than any other type of promotion. Therefore it is mandatory to advertise product for persuasion and communication purpose.

Objective # 5. Introduction of New Product Line or Services:

Sony introduced its Smartphone product range with spending big sum of money.

Samsung Smartphone range advanced with the helping hand of advertising alone.

Such is the importance of advertising in today’s scenario. Hence for introduction of new product range or introduction of new service advertising is must. Without which it is impossible to even think about the success of new product.

Objective # 6. Improved Distribution Network:

Potential market for the product can create growing demand for the same in minds of dealers and wholesalers.

Sachin Tendulkar advertised Toshiba laptop series which resulted in growing demand for Toshiba laptops by distributors and retailers.


What is Advertising – Top 3 Functions: Economic Functions, Social Functions and Psychological Functions

Advertising aims at fulfilling a variety of different purposes depending upon the needs of the advertiser for a particular product. The aim of advertising usually is guided by demand potentialities, cost of media, etc. Advertising facilitates the stimulation, maintenance and securing of distribution and consumption of a product resulting in an increase in sale and profit of the advertiser. The role of advertising is to assist in moving the products demand curve upward.

Advertising is primarily a means by which sellers communicate to prospective buyers the value of their ideas, goods or services. It is a basic tool of marketing for stimulating demand and for influencing the level and character of the demand.

In the modern business world, the functions of advertisement may be broadly categorised as:

1. Economic Function:

The basic aim of all communication is to sell a product. The advertisement aims to accomplish this aim by communicating the right message to the right audience, through the right medium, making use of right appeal at the right time. Advertisement makes use of the mass media to put across the company’s message properly and effectively to a large number of audience at a time. This helps in expanding the market for an idea, product or service necessitating mass production and mass distribution.

Apart from furnishing the information to the general public, it also generates employment. Advertising is a subject of study in management, public relations, journalism, mass communication, etc. Both creative as well as non- creative people such as copywriters, art directors, accounts executives, media planners, commercial artists, studio people, radio and TV announcers, jingle singers, production people, etc. are employed in this profession.

Advertising facilitates the process of exchange of products by creating awareness of the products available that can satisfy a need of a customer. It helps in making known the product, its price, its availability, its functions and features to assist the economic process of exchange.

2. Social Function:

Advertising acts as a mirror of the society. It reflects the cultural values of that society. For example, presence of elderly people in the advertisement, or elderly people giving advice to the young generation gives a clear indication of the respect given to elders in the Indian society.

Successful advertisements are the ones that are consistent with the cultural values of a given society. Advertisement also facilitates the adoption of some good cultural values of one society to another society.

Advertising also helps in improving the standards of living of the people. Today, people have accepted certain new ideas of using computers, AC’s, VCD’s, microwave, electric shaving, vacuum cleaners, dish washers, etc. They become aware of these products through advertisement which make them interested in a product category and ultimately they adopt it. The acceptance of these new concepts in their lives has contributed to the improvement of their standard of living.

By educating the audience about a product’s functions and price of a manufacturer, advertising forces other manufacturers to maintain and improve product quality for survival in the market.

Advertisements also spread awareness and responsibility among public e.g., Family planning, AIDS awareness, Polio eradication, etc.

3. Psychological Functions:

Advertising aims at achieving behavioural changes in the target segment in terms of change in the attitudes, beliefs and opinions and life-style etc. Advertising aims to appeal to the potential customer’s psychological motives either rationally or emotionally. It is closely linked with awareness of brands to generate a particular behavioural response.

Therefore, advertisement assists both the manufacturer as well as the consumer. Manufacturer can introduce new ideas and new products to new customers. Customers get educated and informed about the details of the products and their quality available in the market. So on the one hand, advertising expands markets and helps building up volumes. On the other hand it makes the product adoption process smooth. However, the effectiveness of advertising in the accomplishment of sales objective depends upon other marketing factors also.


What is Advertising – Types of Media (With Advantages and Disadvantages)

There are different media of advertising which are suitable for different products and target audiences.

The following are the popularly used advertising media:

Type # 1. Print Media-Newspapers, Magazines, Brochures, and Fliers:

Print media has always been a popular advertising option. Advertising products in newspapers or magazines is a common practice. The print media also offers options like promotional brochures and fliers for advertising purposes.

Often, newspapers and magazines sell the advertising space according to the space occupied by the advertisement, the position of the advertisement in the publication (front page/middle page, above/below the fold), as well as the readership of the publications. The price of print ads may also depend on quality of the paper and the supplement in which they appear.

Advantages of Print Media:

i. Potential to reach a large number of people in a given geographic area

ii. Flexibility in deciding the advertisement size and placement

iii. Unlimited reference to the advertisement. Readers can go back to the message any number of times

iv. Allows for better targeting of audience, as one can choose the newspapers, magazines or publications that cater to a specific audience or whose editorial content specializes in topics of interest to the audience.

v. High reader involvement means that more attention will be paid to the advertisement

vi. Better quality paper permits better color reproduction and full-colour advertisement

vii. Economy-this media can reach a very wide audience at a low cost

viii. The advertisements can be repeated very frequently as to remind to the audience.

Disadvantages of Print Media:

i. Advertisement space is expensive particularly in the cases of national level publications.

ii. The advertisement has to compete against the clutter of other advertisers, including the giant advertisements given by the competitors

iii. The advertisements have a short shelf life, as newspapers last only a day and magazines, a week or a fortnight or a month

iv. The advertisement will reach a large number of people who will probably never consume the product advertised.

v. Newspapers are a highly visible medium, so competitors can quickly react to the prices advertised

vi. With the increasing popularity of the Internet, newspapers face declining readership and market penetration. A growing number of readers now skip the print version of the newspaper (and hence the print advertisements) and instead read the online versions of the publications.

Type # 2. Outdoor Media-Billboards, Neon Signs, Switch Boards, Kiosks, Trade-Shows and Events:

This involves use of several tools and techniques to attract the customers outdoors. The most common examples of outdoor advertising are billboards, kiosks, and also events and trade-shows. Billboard advertising is very popular. However it has to be really terse and catchy in order to grab the attention of the passersby. Kiosks not only provide an easy outlet for the company’s products but also make for an effective advertising tool to promote the company’s products.

Organizing special events or sponsoring those makes for an excellent advertising opportunity and strategy. The company can organize trade fairs, or even exhibitions for advertising its products. If not this, the company can organize several events that are closely associated with their field. For instance a company can sponsor’s sports tournament to advertise its products.

Advantages of Outdoor Media:

i. Placing of well-designed and neat bill boards etc. adds to the aesthetics of a place.

ii. Outdoor advertisements remain for a longer time and thus have an appeal for longer time.

iii. Bill boards etc. can be placed in several ways. Therefore, this is a flexible medium.

iv. Outdoor advertisements placed appropriately are seen by a large number of people. Therefore this is a cost effective means of advertising.

v. Outdoor advertisements remain longer in the minds of consumers.

Disadvantages of Outdoor Media:

i. Improperly placed bill boards spoil the beauty of the place

ii. Heavy investment is needed

iii. Bill boards may not be safe

iv. Certain bill boards may cause accidents

v. The response is immeasurable

Type # 3. Broadcast Media-Television, Radio and the Internet:

Broadcast advertising is a very popular advertising medium that constitutes several branches like television, radio or the Internet. Television advertisements have been very popular ever since they were introduced. The cost of television advertising often depends on the duration of the advertisement, the time of broadcast (prime time/lull time), sometimes the show on which it will be broadcast, and of course, the popularity of the television channel itself.

The radio might have lost its charm owing to new age media. However it remains the choice of small-scale advertisers. Radio jingles have been very a popular advertising medium and have a large impact on the audience, which is evident in the fact that many people still remember and enjoy old popular radio jingles. Radio advertising is becoming popular again on account of the FM channels.

Advantages of Broadcast Media:

i. These media have a wide reach

ii. The advertisements on these media have a deep impact

iii. The presentation is almost like live

iv. Audi visual effect

v. These media are very flexible. The duration, the timing, the content etc., can be altered easily and frequently.

Disadvantages of Broadcast Media:

i. These media are very expensive

ii. The duration of the advertisements is very short

iii. Since there are too many advertisements on these media, there is the problem of clutter.

iv. These advertisements eat into the time of the people

v. These advertisements may cause addiction among people.

Type # 4. Yellow Pages:

This involves placing the advertisements on the yellow pages. Yellow pages are generally used with telephone directories. There are several forms of Yellow Pages. The advertisements are classified and presented in the yellow pages.

Advantages of Yellow Pages:

i. There is a wide availability and almost everyone has an access to Yellow Pages.

ii. Yellow pages advertisements are non-intrusive as these do not come in the way of routine activities of a person.

iii. These advertisements are more effective as the readers are actually looking for the products and services

iv. These advertisements are reasonably inexpensive

v. The responses can be easily tracked and measured

Disadvantages of Yellow Pages:

i. The pages look cluttered, and a particular advertisement gets lost in the clutter

ii. An advertisement is placed alongside with those of the competitors.

iii. There is very limited scope for creativity in these advertisements because a pre­determined format has to be followed.

iv. These advertisements cannot be changed frequently to reflect market changes.

v. These advertisements are read only by such people who already want the product or service.

Type # 5. Direct Mail:

Direct mail, often called direct marketing or direct response marketing, is a marketing technique in which the seller sends marketing messages directly to the buyers. Direct mail includes catalogues or other product literature with ordering opportunities; sales letters; and sales letters with brochures.

The advertising material may be sent to the prospective buyers through post, courier or even hand delivered. The exact type of prospective buyers can be chosen and follow up also can be made. The response to the advertisement in the form sales can be measured exactly.

Advantages of Direct Mail:

i. The advertising message is targeted at those who are most likely to buy the product or service.

ii. The marketing message can be personalized and it can be ensured that the recipients read the message, thus helping increase positive response.

iii. The advertisement message can be of any length as long as is necessary to fully convey the message. One can also present the message as required.

iv. The effectiveness of the advertisement in the form of response to the advertisement can be easily measured.

v. The advertisement is totally hidden from the competitors.

Disadvantages of Direct Mail:

i. Some people do not like receiving offers in their mail, and throw them immediately without even opening the mail.

ii. Resources need to be allocated in the maintenance of lists, as the success of this kind of promotional campaign depends on the quality of the mailing list.

iii. Long lead times are required for creative printing and mailing

iv. Producing direct mail materials entail the expense of using various professionals- copywriters, artists, photographers, printers, etc.

v. This can be expensive particularly if the number of prospective is large.

Type # 6. Telemarketing:

Telephone sales, or telemarketing, are an effective system for introducing a company to a prospect and setting up appointments. This involves calling up prospective customers and conveying the advertisement message briefly and seeking an appointment with them so that the salesmen can visit them at their leisure.

Advantages of Telemarketing:

i. It provides a possibility to interact with the prospects, answer any questions and convince them about the product or service.

ii. It is easy to prospect and find the right person to talk to.

iii. It is a cost-effective method of advertisement as compared with the other methods.

iv. The results are highly measurable.

v. It is very cost effective if it is outsourced.

vi. It is a great tool to improve relationships and maintain contacts with the existing customers, as well as to rope in new customers.

vii. It enables a company to expand its sales territory as the phone allows one to call local, national and even global prospects.

viii. It is very effective to maintain the sales of the existing products as well as to introduce new products.

Disadvantages of Telemarketing:

i. An increasing number of people have become averse to telemarketing and are using technology to screen out unwanted callers, particularly telemarketers

ii. Government is implementing tougher measures to curb unscrupulous telemarketers

iii. Lots of businesses use telemarketing resulting in disgust in the minds of people about tele-marketing.

iv. If tele-marketing is outsourced there is lesser control in the process because the work is done by outsiders and not by one’s own employees.

v. Tele-marketing can be extremely expensive, particularly if it is outsourced.

vi. Tele-marketing is most appropriate only for high-ticket retail items or professional services.

Type # 7. Covert Advertising-Advertising in Movies:

Covert advertising is a unique kind of advertising in which a product or a particular brand is incorporated in some entertainment and media channels like movies, television shows or even sports. There is no commercial advertising as such in the entertainment but the brand or the product is subtly (or sometimes evidently) showcased in the entertainment show. Examples- The hero in a movie using a certain brand of car, footwear etc.

Type # 8. Surrogate Advertising-Advertising Indirectly:

Surrogate advertising is prominently seen in cases where advertising a particular product is banned by law. Advertisement for products like cigarettes or alcohol which are injurious to health are prohibited by law in several countries. Hence these companies come up with several other products that have the same brand name and indirectly remind people of the cigarettes or alcohol of the same brand by advertising the other products. Examples – A liquor manufacturer selling bottled water under the same brand to popularize the liquor.

Type # 9. Public Service Advertising-Advertising for Social Causes:

Public service advertising is a technique that makes use of advertising as an effective communication medium to convey socially relevant messages about important matters and social causes like AIDS, energy conservation, political integrity, deforestation, illiteracy, poverty etc. David Ogilvy who is considered to be one of the pioneers of advertising and marketing concepts had reportedly encouraged the use of the advertising field for a social cause.

Ogilvy once said, “Advertising justifies its existence when used in the public interest- it is much too powerful a tool to be used solely for commercial purposes.” Today, public service advertising has been increasingly used in a non-commercial fashion in several countries across the world in order to promote various social causes.

Type # 10. Celebrity Advertising:

This involves getting several celebrities from various fields such as sports, movies etc. to advertise or endorse the products of a company. Here the company actually tries to cash in on the popularity of the celebrities to sell the product. Celebrity advertisements are found on all media.


What is Advertising – Benefits to Manufacturers, Sellers, Customers and Society

Advertising is the most effective tool in the marketing of products and services. Companies all over the world have experienced, realized and accepted this fact. The amount spent on advertising is actually a long term investment rather than expenses. Businesses that keep on advertising regardless of the ups and downs in the economic situations get a competitive advantage over those that cut their ad budgets. Companies have realized that they cannot do business without advertising.

The following are the benefits of advertising:

1. Benefits to the Manufacturers and Sellers:

i. Increases the sales of product – Advertising brings about a noticeable increase in the sale of the product. It thus helps to reduce per unit cost of the product by enabling large scale production. This ultimately increases the profits.

ii. Alters the attitudes and habits of people – An effective advertisement can bring about changes in the attitudes and habits of the people. Therefore advertisements can be used to erase unfavourable attitudes and then develop favourable attitudes in the minds of people.

iii. Direct communication – Advertising enables manufacturers and sellers to directly contact the consumers. This direct communication makes the message more effective.

iv. 3 R’s of advertising – Advertising enables a company to retain the loyal customers, reduce migrating customers and recruit new customers.

v. Elimination of middleman – Advertising enables the manufacturers to bypass the merchant middlemen and access the consumers directly. This on the one hand reduces the final price of the goods and on the other hand enables the manufacturer to effectively communicate with the consumers and also receive very crucial feedback.

vi. Period of slump – The sales of any product comes down naturally during a period of economic slump and a company can overcome this to a considerable extent by advertising.

vii. Introduction a new product – Advertising enables a company to create a strong ground work before introducing a new product and make the new product a success.

viii. Brand image – Consistent and effective advertising over the long run strengthens the company’s name and brand image.

2. Benefits to Customers:

i. Information – Advertising provides a large amount of information to the customers. This information increases the general awareness levels of the consumers.

ii. New products – Advertising brings new products and services launched by the manufacturers to the notice of the customers.

iii. Reduced prices – Advertising enables the products to be sold to the customers at low prices on account of large scale production as well as competition.

iv. Entertainment value – Well designed and responsible advertisements provide healthy and wholesome entertainment to the people.

v. Develop skills – The advertising industry is a highly evolved industry. It needs several services like photography, modeling, copyrighting, drawing, animation etc. Advertising enables people to develop these skills.

3. Benefits to the Society:

i. Generates employment – Advertising generates a large number of jobs on account of two reasons-firstly by increasing the economic activity through increased production and secondly the advertisement industry itself generates a large number of jobs.

ii. Economic progress – Advertising increases sales and thereby production. This creates new jobs by creating in a multiplier effect. This ultimately brings about economic progress.

iii. Responsible business – Advertising brings in a sense of competition because of which all the companies are compelled to behave responsibly.

iv. Favourable image of the country – Advertising enables to build a strong image for the entire nation among the different countries.

v. Social message – Advertisement enables conveying of several socially relevant messages to the people.

vi. Democracy – Advertising sustains democracy by subsidizing the press and other media. It also brings entertainment programmes to people through various media at an affordable cost.

vii. Raises standard of living – Advertising brings about an increase in the consumption of goods and services, thereby raises the standard of living of the society.


What is Advertising – Limitations: Wastage, Increase in Prices, Degradation and Invasion of Culture, Rigidity, Exaggeration, Encourages Monopoly and a Few Others

1. Wastage – When there are too many advertisements in any media people will not pay attention to several advertisements and because of this several advertisements go a waste and there is no way this expenditure can be made useful.

2. Increase in prices – Advertising is a very expensive matter and all the expenses incurred on advertising will be added to the price of the product and thereby advertising increases the final prices of the products.

3. Degradation and invasion of culture – Several advertisements which copy foreign advertisements cause invasion of the local culture by a foreign culture and also degradation of several cultural, ethical, moral and social norms of the country.

4. Rigidity – The advertisement message cannot be altered to suit the needs of the customers as in the case of salesmanship.

5. Exaggeration – Most of the advertisements do exaggerate the product features.

6. Encourages monopoly – Big industrialists and manufacturers may exercise their monopolistic control over the market with the help of advertisement technique which is always against the public interest.

7. Against small businesses – Small businesses cannot advertise on a large scale because of financial constraints. Therefore advertising is more suitable for medium and large scale businesses.

8. Unnecessary desires – Advertising creates the desire and taste for new products which are not actually necessities of life and are beyond the income of consumers. Advertising may thus be regarded as the cause of unaffordable and unnecessary desires which may result in unhappiness.

9. Inferior quality products – Company’s may sell inferior quality products to the people on the strength of advertising.

10. Affects free choice of goods – Advertising affects the free choice of goods and services in the minds of consumers by exerting a powerful influence on them.